Students explain five rights guaranteed to them by the Bill of Rights. They describe their own views on the right to limit some of our guaranteed rights. They finally describe the role of a nonprofit organization and how they promote our...

This site provides selections from John Locke's "Two Treatisies on Government." It contains evaluations on the sections 'Of the State of Nature' and 'Of Political of Civil Society.'

This site from the University of Groningen provides the complete John Locke's "Second Treatise on Government." It discusses everything from slavery and property to civil government and its functions.

Explore the ideas of Enlightenment thinker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His writings on natural and social freedom, the social contract, and democracy shaped the American system of government in a variety of ways.

From Wikipedia, this article outlines the purpose of government and explains how disagreement over purpose can splinter into various movements such as socialism, fascism, and communism. Includes links to further explanations of different...

Dig into philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke's ideas and see how they've influenced those that have followed in their footsteps.

Thomas Hobbes was one of the first of his era to discuss the idea of the social contract. Explore his views on government and his famous book, Leviathan.

See how colonial and state constitutions differed and how the idea of a social contract between a government and its citizens is reflected in the state constitutions. The second half of this site gives an abbreviated text of the Articles...

Discussion lesson plan that introduces and examines the concept of government by consent of the governed. Includes a reading for class distribution and references to primary source documents.

Two opposing philosophies concerning the relationship between government and its citizens were expressed by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in the 17th century. Compare these two philosophies and see how they were related to the colonists'...

The Enlightenment was a period of time, starting around 1715, when people developed new ideas about human existence, including people's basic rights and the purpose of government. When our Founding Fathers created a government for the...

This site provides a short biography, and some links to relevant sites.

A tutorial that looks at the ideas from the Enlightenment that influenced the Founding Fathers, particularly those of John Locke and Montesquieu. A PDF file of the tutorial is available.

This article analyzes the philosophy contained in such works as "Leviathan." A good starting point for research on Hobbesian philosophy.

This site from The Galileo Project of Rice University presents Hobbes' life in an outline, giving easy access to the critical information. This is a great site to check out for information on the subject.

This site provides an e-text of the Leviathan, written by Thomas Hobbes.

This site, which is provided for by the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, gives a detailed biography of the life of Thomas Hobbes, including a discussion of his philosophy.